When I was a kid, I avoided going into the basement where my dad kept his tools. It was cold, dark, and dirty. But among my dads’ well-worn hammers, boxes of nails, matted paint brushes, and other dusty gadgets and appliances that are of no interest to a ten-year-old, lay a Kelly-Moore paint fan deck as thick as an old school Yellow Pages phone book. I was enamored by the spectrum colors that were beyond the world of Roy G. Biv that I knew. Oh, the descriptive creative names for each hue, the saturation possibilities, and the dazzling way with which the book fanned out! Nowadays, I still get excited about paint chips, but for more practical reasons – like actually choosing a color to repaint my room.

Though the hues are pretty basic, this bargain of a vintage dress (it was $1!) reminds me of those paint chips I loved so much as a kid.

Cotton candy blue, pink, and purple stripes run the show like the traveling carnivals popping up in parking lots during spring break – this dress is everything that is perfect for Easter. A touch of earthy taupe offers a subtle accent color alongside white to prevent me from looking like a unicorn. The rare vertical stripes add a slimming effect to the feminine fit and flare silhouette and are a fresh alternative to spring florals that always dominate as the seasons’ “it” print. A classic shirt dress in every way, the circle skirt flares out like a paint fan deck if I’m not careful.

I couldn’t have painted a better wall with which to complement my outfit. Happy Easter!

A concatenation of events in my personal life (all good things!) has caused me to derail off the blogging track. It was still blue skies and hot as balls since my last post, but now I wake up to brisk mornings and brown leaves on trees. Seasons have changed and I even passed my four year Chic Vic blogiversary without realizing it. But now I’m back up in the game like Mark Morrison, and onto the chain reaction fashion series I go.

I always aspire to achieve that minimalist closet of must-have basics and versatile neutrals that mix and match like the Parisian chic items from Amour Vert. But honestly, it feels a bit bland to be minimalist all the time. I still cannot completely let go of the fantastic prints, bold pops of color, and one of a kind vintage threads I’ve amassed over the years. At my style core, that is what Chic Vic is all about – a flavorful melange of style that is uniquely me.

I am neither a wallflower nor am I a limelight seeker by any means, but I do like to sit back and let my clothes do the talking for me. This dress is as rambunctious as a neon highlighter, and definitely gets me noticed even when I’m not soliciting attention – especially when I wear it unbuttoned.

The basic, versatile, and ever trustworthy neutral navy, like a steadfast friend, offers the perfect stage for the neon green to shine with all her retro glory. Worn unbuttoned like a jacket of sorts, it adds the right amount of 1960s spunkiness to the conservative pencil skirt silhouette, while accenting the neon green color pops of my blouse. I’m head to toe thrifted, and that’s soo Chic Vic.

So before you stow away your summer shirt dress in hibernation, think again. Or rather, think it unbuttoned.

If it’s what’s underneath that counts, maybe it should be worn on the outside.

The story behind this petticoat comes from a faraway unlikely place. Not too long ago, I traveled to Bolivia and explored the country’s sights and culture from dusty small towns all the way up to the highest capital city in the world. My style eye is most alert when I’m in a foreign land, and I couldn’t help but be inspired by the traditional “cholita” fashion.

“Cholita” was once a derogatory term for indigenous women in Bolivia. Only recently in the last decade or so has this term become a source of pride and empowerment. Even as society modernizes around them, older cholitas as well as younger generations still maintain this way of traditional dress that harkens back to the Spanish Inquisition. It varies slightly by region, but in general their ensemble consists of a bowler hat, shawl, blouse, full pleated skirt, and multi layered petticoat.

I’ll leave the full traditional dress up to the experts – the cholitas – but I found a way to integrate a part of their fashion into my vintage wardrobe.

While the cholita’s petticoat is cloaked under colorful voluminous skirts, I think it’s too beautiful to remain hidden. I may have worn it as a petticoat in my last chain reaction fashion post, but this time I’m showing it off – or at least one layer of it.

Wearing the petticoat as an outer layer, I complemented its cheery yellow with a punchy lime green dress that’s just as bright. The sheer fabric lets the right amount of green peek through, offering a color contrast to the intricate floral embroidery and scalloped hemline. It clearly is a statement piece all on its own.